high holidays
5784
Everything you need to prepare for the
High Holidays 5784 is just a click away
Quicklinks to dates + locations + ticket information
Elul: A month of preparing for the high holidays
Heartbreak, Consolation
& Forgiveness Between the Lines
Rabbi Noa Kushner & Hazzan Asher Levy
Contemporary Jewish Museum CJM
Monday, August 28th
7 - 8:30 PM
Some look to the horizon, we look to our prayers and stories.
Midrash could be described as the stories that arise between the letters and words of torah. Piyyutim might similarly be described as the sung stories, often poetic, that arise between the prayers of the siddur/prayer book. Both modes take our stories – and us – to uncharted places.
Come and learn with Rabbi Noa Kushner and Hazzan Asher Shasho Levy as we look at some of the key texts of the High Holidays along with the provocative associations and questions, both musical and literary, that the tradition offers to us. Perfect for Elul.
No experience is necessary, you only need a desire to sing, learn & study text.
Class tuition is included in Kitchen membership, $54 for non-members
Note, use the staff entrance to CJM at the end of Stevenson Street.
Click link here for a view of the entrance.
Mikva’ot
Men’s Mikvah at Baker Beach
Sunday, 9/10 | 6 AM
Women’s Mikvah at Baker Beach
Sunday, 9/10 | 7 AM
Mikvah immersion is a traditional way to mark transitions in time & in our bodies. As we prepare for the High Holidays, we are offering community mikva’ot to connect to this sacred time in the Jewish calendar, honor the transitions of this past year and prepare our souls for the Days of Awe.
This year we have two mikva’ot sessions, one for men led by Rabbi Michael Lezak and one for women - leader TBD. You are invited to come to the session that feels most comfortable to you. Questions? Email us at hello@thekitchensf.org.
Prepare for the High Holidays:
Prayers of Forgiveness
Hazzan Asher Shasho Levy recorded some of the most compelling Selihot (Forgiveness) melodies so that we can listen and sing all month before praying together. Maybe it’s just us, but they definitely brought us way, way back to last year, in the most meaningful way.
We recommend you listen to them when you wake up in the mornings but we won’t tell if you listen at other times, too. (And, don’t you worry your pretty little heads about Ashkenazi faves like “Aveinu Malkeinu,” because we’ll be praying that, too!)
Red Thread Bracelets
Hold the High Holiday season with you from Selihot to Simhat Torah. We’ll be tying red threads on everyone’s left wrists for the High Holiday season. It’s a kabbalistic tradition and we think it’s also a good reminder of what we’re all trying to do this time of year.Look out for our bracelet stations at every High Holiday event & service. We’ll have someone on hand to help you get in on this new Kitchen ritual. You may even make a friend or 2 when you spot a bracelet out in the wild of San Francisco.Come to Simhat Torah on Saturday, October 7th at Manny’s in the Mission to celebrate the very end of reading the torah – we did it! – with a DJ dance party and take off your bracelet with the community (and if you want a new one, we can do that too).Selihot Concert
All about forgiveness
Selihot Concert All about forgiveness
Selihot Concert:
All about forgiveness
Featuring guest musicians Faisel Zedan, Eliyahu Sills & sweets from Loquat Bakery
In partnership with JIMENA
Potrero Hill Neighborhood House
Saturday, September 9th
Kitchen Social Club | 6:00 - 7:45 PM
Kids & Family | 7:00 - 7:45 PM
Havdalah | 7:45 - 8:00 PM
Concert | 8:00 - 8:45 PM
Ticket Prices
Members
Included in membership
Non-members
$18 per adult, no fee for kids
Listen to the Selihot Concert live on 9/9 at 8 PM PST from anywhere.
One of the best ways to start the high holiday season, with joy, singing our hearts out for forgiveness.
The Selihot* prayers are a series of prayer-poems (piyyutim) all about mercy and forgiveness as we prepare (and sing throughout) the High Holidays. Featuring guest musicians Faisal Zedan (Percussion), Eliyahu Sills (Ney – Arabic & Turkish Flute) Hazzan Asher Levy, Rabbi Noa Kushner, and Kitchen davening team will lead the way.
Think: lots of energy, forgiveness for all, a reunion (it has been a long summer!), and ending with tea and sweets from Loquat Bakery.
For anyone who’s in: We’ll be tying red threads on everyone’s left wrists for the season, too. It’s a kabbalistic tradition and we think it’s also a good reminder of what we’re all trying to do this time of year.
*There’s a custom to rise before dawn to recite these prayers which ask Heaven for compassion and help. In Sephardic traditions, Selihot is recited from the beginning of the month of Elul through Yom Kippur, 40 days, the same amount of time Moses spent on Mount Sinai.
Kitchen Social Club (KSC)
KSC is our community for people in their 20s + 30s. Join us for a sweet bring-your-own-dinner picnic at nearby Potrero Hill Rec Center. We’ll walk together afterward to join the rest of The Kitchen community for Havdalah & Selihot concert. Snacks & drinks provided. If you have questions about KSC, email Kayla, our Youth & Young Adult Program Director, here.
Rosh Hashanah
Erev Rosh Hashanah
Friday, 9/15 | 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
With guest teacher Rabbi Michael Lezak
Rosh Hashanah Day 1
Saturday, 9/16 | 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Lunch | 1:00 PM
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Lunch is sponsored by the Lawson Family
Tashlich with Reboot
Saturday, 9/16 | 3:00 - 5:00 PM
Crissy Field East Beach
More information + RSVP here
Rosh Hashanah Day 2
Sunday, 9/17 | 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Potrero Hill Neighborhood House
Ticket allotment is based on membership. All members must reserve and/or purchase tickets.
$118 per day for non-member adults
(13 years and older)
$36 per day for non-member children
(2-12 years old)
Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur cancellation & no-show policy for Kitchen members
We want all Kitchen-ites to be able to participate in High Holidays and seating at YBCA is limited. We now require 72 hours advanced notice if you cannot attend a Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur service for which you've reserved a ticket. To ensure the most people can attend, there will now be a $60 PER PERSON FEE charged to your member account for each service where proper notice is not provided.
To cancel or if there are any questions about this policy please email help@thekitchensf.org.
Yom Kippur
All services are at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Kol Nidrei * One service only *
Sunday, 9/24 | 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Welcoming Glide Memorial Church Directors Vernon Bush,
Zoe Ellis & the Glide Ensemble
Yom Kippur Morning Service
Monday, 9/25 | 9:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Yom Kippur Afternoon Services
Monday, 9/25
Yizkor | 4:00 – 5:15 PM * New time *
Mincha | 5:15 – 6:45 PM
Neila | 6:45 – 7:45 PM
Break Fast | 7:45 PM
Meal by Wise Sons Deli
Ticket allotment is based on membership. All members must reserve and/or purchase tickets.
$118 per day for non-member adults
(13 years and older)
$36 per day for non-member child
(2-12 years old)
Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur cancellation & no-show policy for Kitchen members
We want all Kitchen-ites to be able to participate in High Holidays and seating at YBCA is limited. We now require 72 hours advanced notice if you cannot attend a Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur service for which you've reserved a ticket. To ensure the most people can attend, there will now be a $60 PER PERSON FEE charged to your member account for each service where proper notice is not provided.
To cancel or if there are any questions about this policy please email help@thekitchensf.org.
High Holidays Kitchen Audio
High Holidays Audio
Every service direct to your home via Kitchen Radio. Tune in (click on ‘High Holidays Audio button’ ) during service times (Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur) to daven and celebrate with the Kitchen community from a distance. Note that if you click on the link above outside of service times, our station is “off air”.
Digital Machzor
Tuning in to Kitchen Radio to join us from afar? Purchase a digital download of our machzor to follow along.
There is a limited quantity of Machzor hard copies. If you’d like to purchase a hard copy of our Kitchen Machzor ($98), email us at help@thekitchensf.org. Only orders placed before 9/1 can be guaranteed to arrive before Rosh Hashanah.
Kids + Family + Teens
Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah Day 1 Morning Services
Saturday, 9/16 | 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Join us on Day 1 of Rosh Hashanah with a family holiday experience for Kitchen Playground (families with infants to age 5), Freedom School + Friends session (families with kids in kindergarten through 7th grade, you do not need to be enrolled in Freedom School), and a learning opportunity for Freedom City teens. We invite you to join Reboot & JCCSF for Tashlich at Crissy Field East Beach, info here.
Rosh Hashanah Day 2 Morning Services
Sunday, 9/17 | 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Potrero Hill Neighborhood House
Freedom School + Friends should join their families in services, and Kitchen Playground-aged families (infants to age 5) can pop in and out of Camp Kitchen – a drop-in space with arts, crafts, and holiday books – from 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM.
Make sure to head back to services at 12:30 PMish to hear the shofar!
Questions? Email Kayla at kayla@thekitchensf.org.
Register for all Kids + Family programs during ticket reservation/purchase for kids + adults.
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur Morning Service
Monday, 9/25 | 9:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Join us on Yom Kippur morning for a family holiday experience for Kitchen Playground (families with infants to age 5), Freedom School + Friends session (families with kids in kindergarten through 7th grade), and a learning opportunity for Freedom City teens (8th - 12th grade).
Yom Kippur Evening Services
Monday, 9/25 | 4:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Childcare services are available starting at 4:00 PM for kids ages 3-11, with a visit into services at 7:30 PMish for a shofar blast!
Register for all Kids + Family programs during ticket reservation/purchase for kids + adults.
Questions? Email Kayla at kayla@thekitchensf.org.
Register for all Kids + Family programs during ticket reservation/purchase for kids + adults.
Teen Sessions
Rosh Hashanah + Yom Kippur
Rosh Hashanah Day 1
Saturday, 9/16 | 9:00 - 10:00 AM
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Yom Kippur
Monday, 9/25 | 9:30 - 10:30 AM
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Teenagers in 8th - 12th grade are invited to our Teen Sessions on Rosh Hashanah Day 1 and Yom Kippur. These sessions will provide a facilitated space for teens to learn and explore the relevance of the holidays in their own lives.
Please be in touch with Kayla, our Youth & Young Adult Program Director, with any questions. To find out more about our teen community at The Kitchen, check out Freedom City.
Note, signing up for teen sessions does not secure a High(er) Holiday ticket for them. All people ages 13 and up are required to secure adult High(er) Holiday Tickets in order to attend services.
Questions? Email Kayla at kayla@thekitchensf.org.
Rosh Hashanah Family Festival in Partnership with JCCSF
Saturday, 9/9 | 3:00 – 5:00 PM
JCCSF
Join us for Rosh Hashanah crafts, mindful moments, music, magic, bee dancing and High Holiday rituals. Set your intentions for the New Year, and of course, enjoy apples, honey and sweet flavors of the season.
Hosted in partnership with JCCSF, Repair the World, PJ Library, Chef Micah, Jonathan Bayer & the Adar Brass Band, and the SF Beekeepers Association.
Donate non-perishable food and household goods at JFCS’s Annual High Holidays Food Drive to help thousands of people in our community struggling with food insecurity. A collection will be stationed in the JCCSF from 9/15 - 10/13.
Kitchen Social Club (KSC)
Kitchen Social Club (KSC) is our community for people in thier 20s & 30s.
Selihot Picnic
Saturday, 9/9
Picnic | 6:00 - 7:45 PM | Potrero Hill Rec Center Park
Havdalah + Selihot Concert | 7:45 - 8:45 PM | Potrero Hill Neighborhood House
Join us for a sweet bring-your-own-dinner picnic at nearby Potrero Hill Rec Center. We’ll walk together afterward to join the rest of The Kitchen community for Havdalah & Selihot concert. Snacks & drinks provided.
Rosh Hashanah Day 1 Lunch
Saturday, 9/16 | 1:00 PM
Mission Entrance of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
After services, we will meet and eat lunch together as a KSC community. Lunch is provided with ticket reservation/purchase, sponsored by the Lawson family. No RSVP is required to meetup for lunch.
Yom Kippur Afternoon Session: The Embodiment of Yom Kippur
Monday, 9/25 | 3:00 - 4:00 PM
Lobby of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Join us to take a moment to check in with your body and explore the unique physical experience of Yom Kippur. Feel free to show up tired, hungry, and cranky. No RSVP is required to attend this breakout session.
Be happy outside, together.
Be happy outside, together.
Sukkot Dinner
Jewish Community High School
Friday, September 29th
Candle lighting & Kiddush | 7:00 PM
Festival Dinner | 7:30 PM
Ticket Prices
Members
$36 per adult ticket
$12 per kid ticket
Non-members
$44 per adult ticket
$18 per kid ticket
What if we told you that in order to start this jewish year off right, you had to go to a very cool place and eat delicious food (ya, Chef Chris) outside in a beautiful, “al fresco” (sukkah) situation with a healthy dose of great people (Kitchen-ites)?
Yep, that’s just what we’re saying, paraphrasing our tradition. Sukkot is z’man simhateinu, literally, a time to celebrate and just be happy outside, together, in a beautiful sukkah.
Just do please reserve because, with Chef Chris’ food and this location, we want to make sure we can get you in. No services Friday, just a lot of laughing and eating. (And, if you need to say kaddish, we’ll make sure you can).
Sukkot
+ Shabbat AM
Jewish Community High School
Saturday, September 30th
Sukkot Shabbat Services | 10:00 AM
Sukkot Lunch | 12:00 PM
It just feels absolutely right to sit in a sukkah, surrounded by a courtyard made of Jerusalem stone and legit etrog trees, while singing hallel (festive! melodies for the holiday). So that’s where we’ll be Shabbat AM, outside, god willing, all together.
And we have a simha! Zev Plotkin is celebrating his recent bar mitzvah in Jerusalem.
Simhat Torah
Saturday, October 7th
12:00 PM
Dear Kitchen-ites,
Forgive us for sending this update on shabbat and the holiday, we believe the situation warrants it.
Given the catastrophic events currently unfolding in Israel, we wanted to let you know that, with some adjustments, our Simhat Torah service and gathering will still take place.
More than ever we believe we need to be together, to pray, and to continue reading and treasuring our torah. We will not host a DJ or open a full bar, but, as always, we will sing, and we will ask God and each other for help in meeting this moment.
If you or your friends would like to join us, please know our doors are open to anyone who wants to be together this evening.
We will be reaching out again with more information as events progress.
–Team Kitchen
Abridged schedule for the evening is as follows:
5:30 PM Kitchen Playground program
7:00 PM Senior Family Educator Joel Abramovitz and the Freedom School faculty will lead us through the unrolling of our Torah
7:45 PM Rabbi Noa Kushner, Hazzan Asher Levy and instrumentalists Faisal Zedan (Middle Eastern Percussionist), Jim Grippo (Qanun) will lead us through ma’ariv/evening prayers and torah service including hakafot/circuits
We will still be hosting tonight at Manny’s – 3092 Mission St, San Francisco CA 94103.
Additional Information
Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur cancellation & no-show policy for Kitchen members
We want all Kitchen-ites to be able to participate in High Holidays and seating at YBCA is limited. We now require 72 hours advanced notice if you cannot attend a Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur service for which you've reserved a ticket. To ensure the most people can attend, there will now be a $60 PER PERSON FEE charged to your member account for each service where proper notice is not provided.
Cancelation Procedure
In order to cancel a ticket that you have reserved, please email help@thekitchensf.org and include the following information:
1. Number of tickets you are canceling
2. Member name(s) who will no longer be attending
3. Service name(s) and date(s) for which you are canceling (ex. Kol Nidrei 9/24, Yom Kippur 9/25)
Important note about listening devices at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
The use of hearing aids, cell phones, computers, tablets, cameras, and other electronic devices is prohibited in the Forum space. Hearing aids may emit sounds at high frequencies that disturb others; house-provided assisted listening devices will be available to those who require one.
Volunteer
We always say you make the best connections at The Kitchen when washing dishes after Shabbat dinner, so here’s your chance to start the new year with new friends. We’re looking for volunteers to help us with event set-up/breakdown, check-in, greeting & passing out machzorim, and probably a few other things. If you’d like to volunteer this year, let us know here.
Getting to Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Parking Information
We recommend parking at the 5th & Mission Garage for all services at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. There are smaller lots nearby, however, the operating hours vary by day.
Uber/Lyft
Please note that the address is 701 Mission St. The Uber/Lyft drop-off will require a short walk towards 3rd Street in order to find the entrance.
Public Transportation
The Yerba Buena Center for the Art is a short walk from the BART | MUNI Powell + Montgomery Street stations. Convenient MUNI bus lines include:
14 Mission
15 Third
30 Stockton
45 Union
All Market Street routes
The CalTrain Station at Fourth and Townsend is served directly by MUNI with stops on Third Street at Howard and at Mission. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is also convenient to Golden Gate Transit, SamTrans, and AC Transit.
Bicycle Transportation
If you’re riding a bicycle, note that there is public bike parking in front of YBCA and at the 5th & Mission Garage, both have limited bicycle parking spots available. Bikes are not permitted inside of YBCA.
